Tag Archives: half marathon

My dates with them often start at a fitness studio or on a run and end at a bar.

Meet Jenn and Will. What did I tell you? Sweaty beasts. But so gorgeous!

The other thing that I learned in the past 3 years is that many, many of us have IBD. Every time I meet someone new, they or someone they know has this terrible disease. And yet, we pursue our personal fitness goals. We teach the classes, we coach the clubs, we run the studios, sweating alongside one another, working as hard as our bodies will allow.

I met Jenn Seracuse from Flex Studios 2 years ago while collecting donations for my Kick Ass 5K. We quickly became friends when Jenn shared with me that she has Crohn’s disease. I met Will Lanier, the manager and a coach at BRICK New York, through many mutual friends as he battled Ulcerative Colitis last year and became the face of the Blank:Cancer campaign.

One day, we will be smarter than cancer.

I somehow managed to convince these two to run a half marathon with me and raise money for the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America’s Team Challenge. And then I had to back out of actually running with them, but am thrilled to be their coach!

Told you. My friends are HOT.

They’re hosting a joint event to raise money for their journey to Portland, Maine this July!

If you are around NYC next weekend, you HAVE to stop by and get sweaty with my friends. Not only are they two of the most genuine, kind people I’ve met, they are SICK fitness instructors. Every time I take Jenn’s class, I am shaking for days. They also happen to both be Lululemon Ambassadors. I mean, we were destined to be friends, right?

Oh, and did I mention it’s only $25 cash???? With the soaring prices of workout classes these days, this is a STEAL.

It’s no great secret that I get bogged down with school in the month of October. A month I love for the change in weather, leaves, and general pace of the city is now known as The Month of Midterms.

Fall used to be such a peaceful time of year…

This year was something special because we were required to take special certification test in September that has made the entirety of this Fall semester feel like a never-ending exam schedule. No wonder I never wrote a recap about my September half marathon.

The Hamptons Marathon in September was supposed to be my triumphant 10th marathon. I trained all Summer, dutifully completing my workouts and sticking to a strength training routine at Refine, logging long runs on the weekends killer workouts during the week. I hit my highest training mileage in August with 64 miles in one week.

Nothing special, but lots of running for me.

I was determined to PR at this race and was on track in every single run to do so. I even had Birdie signed up to rabbit my race and get me to that finish line. Alas, it was not to be come race day.

I’m no stranger to having to pull out of races completely, but this would be the first time I would have to drop down mid-race because my body just couldn’t take it.

To be fair, I knew this was going to happen about two weeks before the race. Despite my pouch holding up AMAZINGLY throughout most of training, there are totally unpredictable circumstances that just sneak up and make it impossible to push.

What can you do?

Birdie still ran with me and we still had a fun trip out East, eating Two Boots pizza in the car while JB drove the expressway. Thank goodness JB, GB, and some of our friends came out to cheer. It was a huge boost mid-race.

Yes, we wore matching outfits. We were totally the coolest kids in the race. (Picture courtesy of GB)

The race itself, however, sucked.

The man announcing the race was mean and nasty and left every runner within ear shot irritated right from the start of the race. His exact words right before the gun went off, “If you have a full marathon bib (me) and are dropping down to the half (me), DON’T EVEN THINK OF COMING CLOSE TO THE FINISH LINE. We will NOT let you cross it.” I mean, seriously?!?! Get a grip, dude.

The course was not closed to cars.

We ran on the main road (Montauk Highway) and there were no cones to block the cars from riding up right behind or beside us.

Birdie and I almost got hit by two cars trying to navigate the road and the runners.

The cops did nothing, NOTHING to protect the runners from the traffic.

The pre-race number pick-up was fine, the finish line food included chocolate milk (yum), and the course was good, but that definitely didn’t make up for the unsafe course and nasty race announcer.

Tried to smile through the near-death car accidents.

Needless to say that in spite of the convenience of this race, I will not be doing it again unless they can guarantee the safety of the runners by closing off part of Montauk Highway or at least making the course more visible to cars by adding cones along the entirety of the race.

I’m sure there was a part of me that was bummed when I knew I wouldn’t be running the full after all that training, but that fleeing moment was erased as I high-fived myself for surviving training, being able to run my fastest training runs, and getting into all-around awesome shape after everything my poor little body has been through.

Finish line!!!!!

And still rocking 1:43 in a half-marathon. 3 minutes off my PR. Not too shabby, body.

I mean, HELL, I am STILL running and feeling awesome, my body is 100% in working order. How awesome is THAT?!?!!!!!

So, that was the Hamptons Marathon/Half Marathon.

Did anyone else run this race? What were your thoughts? Are you planning on running it next Fall? Is this typical for a small town race? Am I being a prima donna? You can tell me.

Now go out and run.

PS. I contacted the race directors about the issues I had with their race and their response was basically, “Eh, too bad. Nothing we can do about the cars and the announcer was just insistent.” Excellent PR. Really, stellar job.

No, the hurricane wasn’t the setback. I actually went running through my beloved city quite a few times post-hurricane to get an idea of what downtown looked like. It wasn’t pretty.

What a mess.

No matter the setback specifics, it just sucks. This last surgery and the following ridiculousness has set me way back in my getting-back-to-me journey.

Oh, back to the surgical floor again? Terrific.

I want to run and lift and spin and flow and get back to racing. It just seems that every time I turn the corner, there’s a wall. Mentally and emotionally, it’s exhausting and depressing.

Have you ever tried and tried and just not been able to get a freaking break? That’s what it feels like now.

I guess this is just where I am.

It’s not easy to feel like my body is fighting me at every turn. It sucks. Yeah, I’m pretty positive most of the time and I feel positive most of the time. But how do I get myself going again? Dammit.

I signed up for a 10K. There’s hot chocolate at the end of it and it’s in 6 weeks. That’s a challenge for me since 3 miles gets me going right now. I don’t anticipate any great speed, but I’ll give it a go.

Mmmm…chocolate.

I also am planning on logging a few miles with a fellow recovering gimp. It will be fun since we’ve never actually met except for virtually through an old friend. Fun!

When I’m all healed up, I’m going to let this man kick my butt.

Ladies & gents, if you want to kick your a** get to Steven’s class. Game changer. (Image courtesy of Flywheel Sports)

I don’t want pity. I’m just saying that sometimes even the most positive, internally motivated people get the blues. Instead of wallowing, I’m fighting back.

I’m signing up for races even though I’m not ready to race, per se. That is, not in tip-top shape. But it’ll be FUN! I’m signing up for spin classes not because my numbers are gonna be awesome but because I know I’ll feel better when I leave class. I’m planning my spring running adventures and making sure I tell people so that they *secretly* hold me accountable.

Do what you know you need to do. Get out there. Go workout with a friend (or in my case, a stranger), force those workouts back into your schedule.

And finally, this gentleman has run almost 300,000 miles. That’s a lot of shoes. And Body Glide.

I’m off! Have a great weekend everybody! Best of luck to all my homies running the NYC Half and especially my fellow lululemon Run Ambassador, Jessica, who is going to kick ass at her marathon this weekend. Go Jessica!

Post navigation

Hi, I'm Abby! I'm a runner, coach, personal trainer, Lululemon Athletica Ambassador Alumni, and physical therapy student living and loving life in NYC. I love to run, eat and play with my husband and my very large family. What are you waiting for? Join me on my fitness journey--lace up those running shoes and change your life!

run stronger every day email subscription

Enter your email address to subscribe to the run stronger every day blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.